On October 26, 2004, conductor Judith Clurman directed a unique “Presidential” program at the Library of Congress with an ensemble, the Election Singers. The concert included traditional election songs, songs from musical shows about our leaders, and the world premiere of the cycle Mr. President, a collection of short works that Judith commissioned from her composer friends and colleagues, based on words of our nation’s presidents. Judith has been named Artist in Residence at National Public Radio for February, 2011, and NPR music will broadcast these recordings daily, with Judith’s Essential Voices ISA, in celebration of Presidents month.
Mr. President includes sixteen pieces. The musical styles are varied, from rounds and canons to duets to a barbershop quartet. The composers represent young students to our elder statesmen, from our finest classical composers to our finest theater and popular composers. They are Samuel Adler (Franklin Delano Roosevelt), Milton Babbitt (James Madison), Robert Beaser (John Fitzgerald Kennedy), Jason Robert Brown (Abraham Lincoln), Thomas Cabaniss (Theodore Roosevelt), Michael Gilbertson (George Washington), Jake Heggie (John Adams), Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum (George W. Bush), Andrew Lippa (Woodrow Wilson), David Ludwig (Harry S. Truman), Paul Moravec (Dwight David Eisenhower), Nico Muhly (Andrew Jackson), Laurence Rosen (Thomas Jefferson), Georgia Stitt (Barack Obama), Zachary Wadsworth (William Jefferson Clinton), and Jesse Wiener (Ronald Reagan).
No two works are alike and they have been recorded in different ways, representing Essential Voices USA’s mission, to include professional vocal fellows (eight singers), auditioned volunteers (17-23 singers), and high school students (2 selected students from NYC). The recordings will be the basis for a commercial CD of Americana that will be released during the 2011-2012 concert season. G. Schirmer will publish the cycle, in a collection, in the Judith Clurman Choral Series.
Go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/ to hear and read more about this exciting project!
Facebook – Essential Voices USA
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.